HIT — The meeting went very long, but it was good that the new members of the Oroville City Council got a deep understanding of what the city staff is doing.

Each of the department heads, and some others, spent the Tuesday meeting giving a run down on their projects, work load, and optimal staffing conditions. Needless to say, all departments are short of money, overworked and under staffed.

At times, city administrators may not share details of the day-to-day operations of a city, thinking the council needs to focus on policy rather than the mechanics.

But elected officials need to know minute details so that unnecessary demands aren’t made, and that set goals are realistic ones.

MISS — We’re living it every day. Be it Highway 99, city streets or even many back roads, there is more of a traffic mess to deal with than ever before. We’re busy, we’ve got a lot to do, we’ve got places to go and it’s taking us far too long because there are too many cars on the road. We’re frustrated, and we want everybody around us to know it.

Let’s keep this in perspective.

We all know the reason there are too many cars on the road right now. It’s because so many of our friends and neighbors in Paradise have been forced to move into surrounding communities — by no choice, or fault, of their own.

Keep that in mind the next time a row of cars ahead of you is blocking you from going home as quickly as you’d like. Chances are many of the people ahead of you would gladly change places with you if they only still had a home to go to.

The horn-honking and even mild road-rage we see some days isn’t worth it. Count your blessings.

HIT — Help for victims of the Camp Fire has come from far and wide, but some of the sources make us smile a bit more than others. So it was with the donation of $110,550 from the Big Sur Marathon Foundation to the North Valley Community Foundation.

This was money raised from an event that didn’t even happen. The 16th annual Monterey Bay Half Marathon was set to go last Nov. 11, but smoke from the Camp Fire blanketed Monterey and Pacific Grove that day, and the race was canceled.

The 7,600 runners who’d paid to participate were given options on what to do with their fee. One option was donating $75 of the fee to the Camp Fire relief effort, and about 25 percent of the runners made that choice, according to a news release from the race sponsors.

We smoked ’em out, and they still wanted to help.

MISS — Tracks crisscross Butte County, but rarely do the trains haul necessary goods for local use or even stop in the area.

Welcome back to the California Northern Railroad, which ran for years up the valley. Now it’s back, stopping at the end of the line in Hamilton City. Service has been revived to deliver products to Nutrien Ag Solutions, which supplies crop nutrition and protection products.

Kudos go to the company for restoring the Holly Sugar property, saving and repurposing some of the historic buildings. That’s all good, but there is one thing that makes us wince.

What makes us fearful is that some of the road crossings aren’t protected by crossing arms or train signals. Vehicles, pedestrians and school students can pass unimpeded.

Spread the word to anyone crossing the tracks to stop and look both ways. Perhaps there is a school or transportation grant that can upgrade the crossings before the worst happens.

“Hits and misses” appears each Saturday. Items are compiled by the editorial board.